


The Minutes Seem Like Hours

by inwhatfurnace



Category: Glee
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-03-28
Updated: 2011-03-28
Packaged: 2017-11-09 00:05:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/449038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inwhatfurnace/pseuds/inwhatfurnace
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kurt Hummel often wonders why he was born here in Lima, Ohio, where one little step outside the norm ends with a slushie in your face and bruises on your back from one too many locker shoves. He thinks of all of the hundreds of places where life might be a little easier, and decides that he’s going to make it out alive. AU, Kurt doesn't transfer to Dalton at the end of "Furt."</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Minutes Seem Like Hours

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [dark_fest](http://dark-fest.livejournal.com/profile) 2011.  
> Prompt: Glee, Kurt/Karofsky, Kurt/Blaine, Karofsky is tired of wanting what he can't have, so he takes it, possible non-con. **Dark!fic: violence, bullying, non-con kissing**.

Kurt Hummel often wonders why he was born here in Lima, Ohio, where one little step outside the norm ends with a slushie in your face and bruises on your back from one too many locker shoves. He thinks of all of the hundreds of places where life might be a little easier, and decides that he’s going to make it out alive.

-

“Please, Kurt. What did he do to you?”

Kurt’s eyes dart everywhere except Blaine’s face. And then Kurt has him by the lapels and is kissing him hard, right on the mouth.

“That,” The end of the word hitches up into a sob. “That’s what he did.”

-

Puck makes good on his word, and the glee club takes turns walking with Kurt to and from class, forming a relay system that makes sure he’s never navigating the halls of McKinley alone. Kurt often catches sight of Coach Sylvester or Mr. Schue turning the corner, Coach Beiste patrols the halls like a warden, and even Mrs. Pillsbury-Howell braves the world outside of her squeaky clean office to keep an eye on him.

Kurt jokes constantly that glee club is his security detail. On his birthday, all eleven of them wear suits, sunglasses and earpieces, give each other elaborate code names, and Kurt promotes them to secret service (on his birthday, Blaine skips his last class of the day to bring him a cake).

But there are bad days. One Wednesday Sam is sick, and McKinley’s crap reception means that no one gets his text until third period. Finn gets the message about ten minutes into English and bails, _hey guys can someone get kurt third period? science to math sorry im puking my brains out_ still lit up on his phone. He sprints through the halls, trying to remember which room in the Science department is the right one.

Finn finds Kurt hovering outside of a classroom door, books hugged tight to his chest, his eyes already filled with tears. Mercedes, Puck, Mike, and Santana show up just seconds after Finn, and all of them wait for Kurt to speak.

“Sam’s supposed to take me to Math.”  
“C’mon, buddy.” Puck puts his arm around Kurt and guides him down the hallway.

-

Kurt rolls up the sleeve of his sweater and shows Blaine the deep purple fingerprints that circle his left wrist.

“Sam was sick on Wednesday.”

Blaine winces, and runs his fingers over the bruises as gingerly as possible.

“I was only alone for a few minutes.”  
“Did he?”  
“Yeah.”

Kurt’s nose brushes against his as he gives away another hard kiss, this one significantly longer than the last. Blaine’s stomach turns at the thought of Karofsky, at the thought of him ever getting past this point.

When Kurt pulls back, Blaine puts his hand on Kurt’s shoulder, and squeezes tight.

“Kurt, you can’t do this. I can’t. It’s not –”  
“Yeah. Yeah, I know.”

-

Blaine used to text Kurt every few days to check up on him, but soon Blaine is visiting every Saturday, the only day the Warblers don’t have practice. The two of them play video games with Finn, or go the movies with Mercedes, or watch Law & Order: SVU marathons with the rest of the Hudson-Hummels. Sometimes just the two of them go the mall together, and compare cute underpaid employees over coffee.

Blaine realizes that when the stone walls of Dalton are a two hour drive away and his uniform is neatly put away in his closet, he’s just as scared as Kurt.

He should have said, _you shouldn’t be afraid of your own shadow, you should be safe_.

-

“I won’t lie to you,” Kurt tells Blaine. “Our only concern is Vocal Adrenaline.”

New Directions blows the Warblers out of the water at Sectionals. They do an acappella version of West Side Story’s “Tonight” quintet that makes Blaine not even want to go on stage.

-

The Monday after Sectionals, Kurt makes the mistake of leaving class to go the water fountain.

-

When he gets home from school, Finn brings an ice pack and a cup of tea upstairs. He stands in the bedroom doorway for just a little too long, and Kurt’s bottom lip starts to quiver. Finn is once again, for the fifth time that day, possessed with the urge to punch the nearest wall.

“I’m gonna call Blaine.” Finn says, pressing the ice pack to Kurt’s left eye and the tea into his hands.  
“You jerk, gonna make me cry.” Kurt mutters, trying his best to stop his eyes from watering. Even blinking makes his headache worse.

-

An unknown number lights up his phone, but Blaine recognizes Lima’s area code.

_Blaine? It’s Finn._

-

Kurt is sitting on the couch in the living room, watching TV. When Blaine sits down next to him, Kurt’s watery, pathetic smile is almost as painful to see as his black eye and his split lip.

“Coach Sylvester nearly tore him apart. And my dad wanted to finish the job.” Kurt whispers, and Blaine puts his arm around him, sighing when Kurt rests his head on his shoulder. Finn wanders in half an hour later with a bowl of popcorn big enough for ten people, announces that _The Dark Knight_ is on in five minutes, and passes the popcorn to Blaine.

-

Blaine starts singing to Kurt. At first, it’s whatever’s on the radio that gets stuck in his head: _baby please don’t go, if I wake up tomorrow will you still be here?_ But as time go by, Blaine finds himself regressing, back to the music his parents listened to when he was little: _when I left my home and my family I was no more than a boy_. He starts singing the very first songs he learned, old, familiar tunes from Disney movies, summer drama club, and children’s musicals. It’s then that he discovers what seems to be Kurt’s favorite: _and your boat waits down by the key_.

He spends his spare time coming up with songs that will make Kurt smile.

-

Mercedes keeps track of the days it takes for Kurt’s black eye to fade. Slowly, they fall back into their old routine: they link arms while walking to History (on Fridays they hum “We’re Off to See the Wizard” and skip down the hall), eat lunch together, and spend way too much time at the movies buying overpriced popcorn.

“I’m still scared.” Kurt blurts out when they’re sitting in Mercedes’s car in the parking lot, about to head home. “He could just look my address up in the phone book, or just march into school, or –”

“Hey.” Mercedes puts her hand over his, frowning when she realizes that Kurt is shaking. “I’m not gonna let anything happen to you ever again. Okay?”

“Okay.”

-

Breadstix is busy, like every other Saturday night. Kurt rambles animatedly about his Regionals solo, how it’s their opening number and about how all of the other guys in glee club are backing him up and maybe Mike Posner isn’t a classic but so what?

Instead of answering, Blaine rests his arm on the table and holds out his hand. Kurt stares at it for a solid minute, as if he’s waiting for Blaine to change his mind.

Maybe apart they’re just a guy who’s too stubborn and a guy who turns tail too easily, but together? Well, maybe they’re something better.

Kurt’s hand is clammy, and his nails are bitten down to the bone.

-

David Karofsky often wonders why he was born here in Lima, Ohio, where you have to bury yourself deep so no one can find you. He thinks of all of the hundreds of places where life might be a little easier, and knows he’ll never make it out alive.


End file.
